Debt Connection

The most complete picture on the economic and debt interconnections is this chart redux of who owes what to whom via the NYT. It is nothing new, and it speaks for itself.

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The Detached look: Bill Cunningham

For those who are still looking out there for authenticity and detachment from the conformism of the modern society Bill Cunnigham New York is the documentary to watch.
Cunningham, 81, has been documenting the fashions found on New York Streets for the last 50 years. With a battered Nikon camera, he goes everywhere on his bicycle, snapping anything that catches his eye.
Reclusive, and fiercely private about his personal life, it took Richard Press, the film's director and his producer, Philip Gefter, eight years to convince their subject to appear in the documentary.
From Upper East Side swans, European royalty and aspiring fashionistas; to street gangs, punks, downtown transvestites and even bicycle messengers - if there is something interesting to say about the clothes, Cunningham will snap them.

Cunningham attends the fashion shows in New York and Paris, he also covers the most prestigious social events each night in New York for his page in the New York Times called "Evening Hours."
Cunningham must be history's most frugal fashion observer. He sleeps on a camp bed in his studio surrounded by filing cabinets. The bathroom is down the hall and shared with other tenants. He never eats out and owns perhaps four outfits at most - his uniform is a blue workman's smock (with lots of pockets) which he buys from a DIY store in Paris. The street-sweepers there wear the same shirt. In the rain, he cycles in a plastic poncho full of holes repaired with gaffer tape. He is on his 28th bicycle, having had 27 stolen in New York over the years.
Of his reluctance to accept even a glass of water at any of the events he covers, he tells the cameras: "You see, if you don't take money they can't tell you what to do, that's the key to the whole thing."

In 2008, Cunningham was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres , by the French Ministry of Culture. In his speech, he was overcome with emotion. He told the assembled: "It's as true today as it ever was. He who seeks beauty, will find it".

Monopolies, Corporations and the Italian Malaise

"American regulators are examining the close links between Apple and Google, reports the New York Times. It's no secret that Apple and Google share two board members: Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, and Arthur Levinson (formerly of Genentech), but the rules on whether such ties promote anti-competitive behaviour are now being looked into."

Corporations on the rise!

It is encouraging to notice that someone is still concerned about competition, trusts and monopolies.
Since the crisis started we have been witnessing corporations merging, buying and consolidating as they wish will little or no oversight. All this has been justified in the context of the economical crisis and supporting the faulty logic that if they do not grow gigantic they will not survive this crisis.
There will be a new anti-trust regulation when and if the crisis will end to prevent a handful of companies to control an entire sector of the economy? The answer will be most certainly NO! Since by then they will be too big to be split and too big to be controlled by any authority or government. Phase II of the corporation evolution has started in September 2008 and although at the moment we see them as victims of this crisis It will not take long to see clearly that they are a dangerous concentration of power and wealth.

The Italian Malaise

If USA poses itself the dilemma of competition and monopolies, in Italy there is no discussion on these issues at all. Italy has more problems with unfair competition and monopolies than US.
A peculiar distortion of the Italian market is the possibility for a member of the board or a CEO to serve simultaneously in different companies. Some of them even serving at the same time in competing companies. Any other country would see this as a disaster for the company since the chances for inside trading, competition manipulation and corruption are endless. Not a problem in Italy since most of the members are chosen or imposed politically and on the basis of the leverage they can bring to the company. Ethical considerations are still non-existent in Italian companies. The stock exchange in Milan is one big happy family manipulating balances and defrauding.
Parmalat crack brought to the attention of the world the incredible corruption and manipulations of the Italian financial market but still this is the tip of the iceberg.
The system is practically rotten, overburdened with debt and the only reason it is still surviving is due to the fact the Italy is a paradise for crooks, balance frauds and book cooking are no longer prosecuted and it is a common practice. The Italian financial system is all image with no substance, this economical crisis will bring more and more cracks on the facade of this house of cards.